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Hang on employers… you may lose as much as 79% of your workforce when the economy turns around. That’s almost 8 of every 10 employees who intend to jump ship as soon as they can at a cost of billions employers – or so says the research.
Stick It to Their Employers
According to Ron Herzog, CEO & President of recruiting firm, FPC, their 2011 Year in Review revealed some not so surprising insights from a survey conducted with U.S. workers. Among the findings, these employees cited limited opportunities within their organizations and a long memory of transgressions…perceived and real… that they suffered at the hands of often arrogant employers during the Great Recession. With the fragile economy looking like it could be turning the corner, Herzog goes on to say that employees may feel they have some leverage and wouldn’t mind sticking it to their employer by leaving for a better job.
More Hours with Less Pay
So have employers become arrogant and even greedy with their labor force? Many employees would go on record with a resounding yes! With limited job possibilities and the evaporation of job positions, many organizations seemed to have taken advantage of their teams during a struggling economy by adding more hours, curtailing raises and bonuses, and slicing salaries of remaining employees. This is during a time when executive salaries and bonuses remained high. What has this done to employee morale, attitude and loyalty? It’s left a bitter taste and these employees have already “actively” disengaged from their current job positions.
“Engaged” Employees = Increased Earnings
Before we take a closer look at the cost of having a “disengaged” work force, let’s define the meaning of employee “engagement.” According to Scarlett Surveys , “Employee engagement is a measurable degree of an employee’s positive or negative emotional attachment to their job, colleagues and organization, which profoundly influences their willingness to learn and perform at work.” Engaged employees truly care about the company and feel a connection to it. Employee engagement is not the same as job satisfaction. As a result, they are willing to invest the energy to be great instead of having the attitude that it’s “good enough to be good enough.”
In a nutshell:
- Engaged organizations have 3.9 times the earnings-per-share growth rate compared with that of organizations with lower engagement in their same industry.
- Disengaged employees cost U.S. companies roughly $800 billion in productivity annually
What the elite employers already know
The more elite, preferred employers have enjoyed tremendous market share, profitability, and success while genuinely thriving through this long running recession. According to a September 2010 Gallup poll: “The best-performing companies know that an employee engagement improvement strategy linked to the achievement of corporate goals will help them win in the marketplace.”
So what do these “elite” organizations know that the remaining employers seem to be lacking when building successful team cultures?
- These organizations provide leadership training tools that keep team leaders from being blindsided when asked to lead a workplace that is full of conflict, chaos, poor communication, and team member competitiveness.
- They provide clear job duties, accountabilities, and job expectations.
- They focus on building champion teams that collaborate in problem solving, internal processes, and conflict resolution.
- Preferred employers keep the lines of communication open by seeking employee input with follow through with responsible recommendations.
- They recognize employees through performance reviews, gratitude and coaching programs.
With the economy showing signs of strengthening, employers should be forewarned of the inevitable exodus of miserable employees. With nearly 20 million of 100 million full time U.S. employees who are miserable and another 59% who are unhappy according to Gallup, mismanaged organizations could fail to grow, remain competitive, and thrive in the new economy. So as the old saying goes, “What goes around, comes back around.” It will be interesting to see how it impacts stockholder earnings.
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